Welcome 2015, let’s get down to Business!

Happy New Year to you all, and a belated Merry Christmas, if you celebrate. Boy have things been quiet on my sewing table, but now is the time to rectify that! I’ve been very busy with a different line of work over December and now that that has quietened down I can get back to my sewing. I’ll fill you in later on what I was getting up to, but if you follow me on Twitter, chances are you spotted a few plant & flower related photos… That’s the clue!

Anyhooo, I bought a decent amount of fabric online while on the sofa watching movies with the family on Boxing Day, as you do, and it has started to arrive! Soo exciting to get new fabric! I am determined not to let it accumulate in the stash, so here’s my first project. I have a 3m piece of olive crepe backed satin that arrived from Fabric Godmother – I know, olive green! No black, grey, white or blue… I’m being brave this year. From my Wardrobe Architect board, I have identified this palette from Design Seeds with the olive as something I might actually like to wear, so this is a start at coming up with a selection of garments for it.

Natalie Top by Lolia Designs

I saw & pinned a blouse pattern by Lolia Designs called Natalie to my Wardrobe Architect board on Pinterest a while ago. I liked the idea of the “panel” in the centre. They call it a pleat, but it does nothing a pleat is designed to do. It’s a folded back extension of the front so it flaps around a bit I would think. I haven’t bought the pattern, it is not in my size and I’d like to change a few things. I’m combining the idea of that central detail with the sleeve from my placket blouse, but deepening the cuff. I’m also going to re-use but slightly alter the hem from the black & white spotty silk faux placket blouse.

I love the look of this blouse, the sleeve is something I’m going for with the new pattern, of course it won’t have the button placket or collar, but that can appear on a different top!

So the pattern was started in the evening of the 30th, the toile started yesterday afternoon (New Year’s Eve!) – yeah, not going out, and I’m finishing it off today. I hope it turns out the way I imagine, the result should be available by the end of the day!

I’ll do some round-ups of last year’s projects in a bit, I managed 92 projects to the end of November, so I’m quite chuffed at that, I still need to see how I did on the Stashbusting front. I know I used a lot, but I’m not sure I managed to stick to my 1 in for 2 out policy…

In the meantime, I hope you’ve all had a wonderful time with family over the holidays & are ready to tackle this new year with a vengance! Also waiting with baited breath to find out who I’m partnering with for Jungle January 2015!